The key to redevelopment in Gaithersburg is rebranding, Knapp says

Ex-county councilman's 6 month contract with city expires Saturday

Gaithersburg is well-positioned for an economic boom in the near future, but leaders need to make it happen.

That was the message from Mike Knapp, the county councilman-cum-consultant hired by Gaithersburg to jump start the city's economic development plan.

"If you're going to wait for other people to do it  the county government or the state government or the federal government  you are going to be waiting for a long time," Knapp warned.

But, he said, the city is poised to act now, and that's good news.

"The economic progress you have had going on even during a recession is phenomenal," Knapp said Monday night as he presented the results of a six-month study of the city's economy.

His 39-page report is broken down into key moves the city should make to create a more robust economy. The recommendations include building a brand as the gateway to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the county's research and technology community, expanding the commercial base and creating new infrastructure.

The report dwells on the city's strengths: four shopping centers at the Kentlands, Washingtonian Center, Lakeforest mall and Olde Towne; planned developments at Crown Farm, Watkins Mill and Olde Towne; and its ever-increasing connectivity to major regional employers with the development of transportation projects such as the Intercounty Connector and planned Corridor Cities Transitway, a 14-mile rapid transit system that will connect Gaithersburg and Clarksburg.

Knapp said the city should leverage its momentum and relative economic stability to bring money from Montgomery County and the State of Maryland into city projects such as the Watkins Mill interchange off Interstate 270, a bus rapid transit proposal for the Md. 355 Corridor and parking improvements in Olde Towne.

Knapp said the city should have a serious discussion about whether to take on debt to create a more favorable deal for the county or state to help fund the Watkins Mill interchange. Sixty-six percent of city residents surveyed in 2009 by the city support borrowing money to fund large capital projects, Knapp pointed out.

Mayor Sidney A. Katz said he appreciated the reports focus on opportunities for collaboration with NIST and other government agencies.

"The state can have something that happens in another part of the state that might affect us or might not. The county can have something that happens in another part of the county that might affect us or might not. If something happens in Gaithersburg, it is helping the state and the county immediately," Katz said.

Knapp agreed.

"They're looking for ways to be successful," he said of potential regional partners.

A draft report was available on the city's website before Monday's meeting. A full report was to be posted at www.gaithersburgmd.gov on Tuesday, city officials said.

Knapp's $79,500 six-month contract with the city was signed Oct. 29 and ends this Saturday. His consulting company, Orion Ventures, can take up to eight months to complete the initial work with the $79,500 payment cap. The city can extend the contract for additional economic development work for up to six months, at the $13,250 monthly rate.

Deputy City Manager Tony Tomasello and Knapp said Monday night that no extension had been approved.

Knapp founded Orion Ventures in 2006.

dgaines@gazette.net

Mike Knapp's next steps for Gaithersburg

* Hire an economic development director. The city plans to do this by July 1, paying the new director between $66,610 and $103,762 a year. Knapp suggested the city should have a two or three person economic development team.

* Move forward on the Watkins Mill interchange. Knapp says the connection to Interstate 270 could create a "domino effect" of development south through the Frederick Avenue Corridor.

* Implement a new website for economic development issues and a new media strategy. Knapp created a mockup of the possible new economic development website; he encouraged city leaders to tout news about the city in regional, state and national media outlets.

* Examine transit possibilities in the 355 corridor. Knapp encouraged the city to look at the possibility of creating a circulator bus along 355, or joining in a bus rapid transit program under consideration at the county.

* Move approved projects forward. If all potential development in the city could get under way now, it would create quite the buzz and make the city more attractive to new businesses and residents, Knapp said.

* Enhance the Gaithersburg Accelerator, a private-public partnership that opened last year to attract second-stage life sciences companies to the city.